A proposal from the side of an AAVE token holder is urging the Aave DAO to acquire Aave Labs’ IP and corporate equity, which has made the ongoing debate over the governance and revenue distribution within the DeFi protocol harsher.
The proposal, which the user tulipking posted on the Orbit forum, recommends the so-called “poison pill” strategy for transferring the ownership of Aave Labs’ code, service marks, and equity to the community-run DAO.
Controversy Over Revenue, Control, and Openness
Tulipking claims that some front-end integrations like the CoW Swap rollout have caused revenue to be diverted from the DAO and collected by corporate entities thereby diminishing the value of AAVE token holders. The proposal suggests that power to convene the DAO would lead to a decline in the chance of centralization and that community would be the ultimate beneficiary of protocol value.
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Aave Labs CEO Stani Kulechov has stood by the CoW Swap integration, claiming it was optional, and that it was meant to enhance the user experience while also keeping the users safe from MEV. Nevertheless, he has acknowledged that the process was not completely open, which has been one of the sources of criticism from certain factions of the community.
The debate has sparked significant reactions from prominent people. Marc Zeller, the founder of the Aave Chan Initiative, referred to the proposal as possibly “the most important in Aave’s history,” thus bringing up the issue of who really has the ownership of the Aave brand and IP rights. Clarifications from forum moderators indicated that the proposal must go through an initial review before it can be put to a formal voting as the discussion lays bare the more difficult issues of finding the correct balance between decentralized governance and the for-profit development in the top DeFi protocols.
